Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame
by OXYD
Summary: A noval of the classic computer game.
1. Chapter 1

Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Persia 2, it is owned by Broderbund.

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Chapter 1

The Prince had dressed in his red and white royal clothes and walked down the halls of the great palace to enter the royal court room where the Sultan and his bride, the Princess, awaited him. Eleven days had passed since the prince escaped the dungeons, strucked the evil Vizier Jaffar dead, and saved the Sultans daughter from Jaffar's attempt to kill her if she refused to marry him. When the Sultan returned from battle in a foreign land, the Prince explained to him about Jaffar's treachery and how he planned to execute the Princess if she'd refused to submit to his demands to be married to him so that he'd become ruler of all Persia. Hearing this, the Sultan honored the Prince as a hero and offered him whatever riches he desired, but the Prince wanted only one reward; the Princess's hand in marriage. The Sultan agreed to grant the Princes request. Shortly afterwards, the two were wed and they lived happily...well, for eleven days; the Princes troubles were only beginning. As the Prince approached the court room doors, he suddenly felt a strange coldness sweep over him as if an icy wind had blown on him. "_That's strange; I wonder what that was all about. Maybe it's just me being nervous_" the Prince thought as the Palace doors open; the Prince entered the court room slowly and smiled at everyone warmly. Everyone however, murmured softly to each other which confused the Prince; they were acting as if they didn't care who he was. The Prince continued up the royal rug until he reached the throne where the Princess and the Sultan sat; then things got even more strange. The Sultan and the Princess stared at the Prince as if they didn't recognize him; The Prince grew worried. "Princess, Sultan; why do you look at me so strangely?" the Prince asked in confusion. But no sooner had he spoke, another figure moved out from the shadows behind the Princess and glared coldly at the Prince, who quickly grew shocked when he saw this other figure; it was another Prince who looked _exactly _like him. "How _dare _you speak to the Princess!" he snapped coldly at the Prince and then pointed at him. "Guards; seize him, seize him!" the imposter commanded and several guards dressed in blue robes and armed with swords came and surrounded him. The Prince immediately grew frightened and was about to fight when the Princess spoke up. "No, don't hurt him; he's just a mad begger" she pleaded; the Prince was shocked to hear her say such a thing. "_A beggar?! What is she talking about?_" the Prince thought and then he saw the state of his clothes; they were torn and ragged like a street beggars clothing. _"How...how did that happen? They didn't look like that before I entered this room_" the Prince thought and then looked up at the imposter who was sneering at him, and then the Prince saw something that almost made him lose it; the imposters face had temporarily transformed into the face of the evil magician Jaffar, and then back into the face of the real Prince again. The Prince was horrified; how could Jaffar have still lived? "_No, God...No! I killed him...I _killed _him! How could he have returned?!_" the Princes mind screamed; but he had no time to explain. The guards started closing in around him and he quickly took off running towards a large window. "After him; don't let him get away!" the lead guard shouted to the other guards; they obeyed and went to send word to the other palace guards around the city to capture the Prince. The Princess looked up at Jaffar (whom she thought was the real Prince) and warned him that he might escape, but Jaffar only smiled. "Don't worry, my dear, he's not going to get far" he said softly as the real Prince jumped through the window and onto the roof of the palace.

The Prince started running across the roof and jumped over gaps and onto other buildings. As he was running, two guards jumped onto his path. "Halt!" they shouted and drew their swords; the Prince didn't want to harm the sultans guards, as they were only doing their duty, but they were apparently leaving him no other alternative. The Prince drew his own sword and struck the two guards down and continued running across the roofs of the other buildings, feeling guilty about what he had just done. "_Sorry...but it was the only choice I had_" the Prince thought regretfully as he returned his sword to its holder and continued running. The Prince eventually came to the end of a large building near the ship docks that had a long drop; he looked back and saw the palace guards coming closer. The Prince realized that he'd have to jump down and risk getting hurt other than be struck down by the guards. The Prince jumped off and landed roughly at the botton with a painful thud; he felt a bit dizzy only for a second and then he got up to his feet and then turned to see more guards coming for him. The Prince immediately turned around and ran for the end of the dock where a merchant ship was just leaving port. The Prince reached the end and jumped off the dock and grabbed onto the edge of the open rear window of the ship and pulled himself inside; the guards came to a halt at the end of the docks and cursed themselves for their failure. The Prince, now safely on board, collapsed to the deck on his knees in fatigue; he felt abandoned, angry, and heartbroken. Somehow in a way the Prince could not understand, Jaffar had somehow returned from the dead and came back to finish what it was he'd started eleven days ago. The Prince clenched his teeth in anger and despair as Jaffar's evil face reappeared in his head; now that Jaffar had returned, the Prince knew that Persia was in great danger. With that imposterous disguise, no one would ever know that this man the people of Persia saw as a hero was really in truth their most danger nemesis who attempted to steal the Sultans throne and take rule over all of the kingdom; taking power over Persia would now be much easier for Jaffar since the Sultan, the Princess, and all of Persia saw him not as the evil Vizier, but their hero. The thought of this enraged the Prince and he panted angrily; he thought of the Princess and realized that she too, could very well be in danger with Jaffar acting as him. "_I swear, I'll get you for this, Jaffar!_" his mind shouted angrily. The Prince didn't know what to do now; the merchant ship was heading off to a place the Prince didn't know. All hope seemed lost...for now; the Prince drifted off to sleep in tears of sadness and hopelessness. As he fell asleep, he heard his painful memories repeating themselves in his mind; he heard Jaffar ordering the palace guards to capture him, the Princess begging them to leave him unharmed, and the he then heard the guards shouting at him. "_What do I do now?_" the Prince thought hopelessly.

As the Prince had shut his eyes and fell asleep, a woman in blue royal robes appeared to him on the ship in his dreams. The Prince was laying on the ships deck and then he looked up at her and immediately felt a sense of deja' vu; she looked very familiar, as if he had seen he before, but could not remember when. "Come to me" the woman replied; her voice was beautiful like a morning dove. "Where; who are you, and what is it you want?" the Prince asked in confusion; the woman did not answer, instead, she vanished and then the Prince woke up from his dream to find that a large storm was brewing. He got to his feet and heard the ships crew panicking and shouting orders; the Prince grabbed onto a large wooden mast to avoid losing his balance as the ship was being tossed and turned from the storm. Then he saw a face appear in the cloudy night sky and immediately recognized the face; it was Jaffar's face. The Prince quickly drew his sword in anger and glared at Jaffar's face in the sky, who was sneering at him evilly. "Come down here and fight, you evil coward!" the Prince screamed angrily; but then suddenly, a large bolt of lightning struck the center of the merchant ship and sliced it in two. The Prince heard Jaffar let out an evil cackle as he tumbled into the salty sea water. The Prince quickly slid his sword into its holder and grabbed onto a piece of the ship and saw a large island in the light of the moon not far from the position he was at right now. "I have to get to that island; it's my only chance of surviving" the Prince said aloud and swam as hard as he could towards the island; it took forever, but finally after a long series of hard swimming, the Prince made it onto the sandy shore and fell asleep from exhaustion. Many hours later, the sun rose over the horizon and the Prince awoke on the sandy shore and got up onto his feet and looked around to see if there were any survivors from the ship wreak; there weren't any. The Prince looked down sadly and pitied the crew of the ship and hoped they'd find peace in the afterlife, but there was no time for wallowing in pity, now was the time to find a way off the island and back to Persia; but how? The Prince looked around and saw only trees and an enormous rocky mountain on his left; he also noticed that a part of the large mountain was hallow and had a strange drawing of the sun on it and found this interesting. It looked as if it was able to open somehow. The Prince walked up to it and then stopped when he kicked a small stone by mistake and caused it to land a few feet in front of him, and then he saw it sink into the sand; it was quicksand. "Oh no, what now?" the Prince sighed aloud; but before he could say anything else, the quicksand rustled and then seven large stepping stones rose up from within the sand. The Prince saw that the sixth one had the same sun emblem on it just like the large hallow rock at the end of the path that appeared out of the quicksand. "I'd better be careful; if I slip and fall in the quicksand, I'm done for" the Prince said and slowly walked across the stones; The Prince didn't know for sure, but by the look of it, the large rock at the end of the path seemed to somehow open in a way he didn't know yet. As the Prince made it to the sixth stepping stone, the ones behind him began sinking; he turned his head and quickly turned around and jumped the last stone just as the sixth one sank into the sand. The Prince now stood in front of the rock and then turned his head and noticed that the seventh stone with the sun symbol on it didn't sink, not right away; a few seconds later, the stone sank into the sanl and emitted a loud clanking sound. Suddenly, the rock in front of the Prince rumbled and then slid open to reveal a long stony, musty stairway that lead deep under the mountain; it was an ancient underground cave. "Amazing, a secret cave; maybe I'll find a clue down in here that will help me find my way back to Persia, and maybe I'll find that woman in here somewhere" The Prince said in wonder and walked slowly down the large steps and wondered just who that woman he saw back on the ship could be; she seemed to know who he was, but he didn't know who she was. But there was no time to waste; the Prince had to find a way back to Persia and finish Jaffar for good before at was too late. The Prince thought of his lovely wife, now in the hands of that evil magician, and became worried again; the Princess didn't know that the imposter was Jaffar and that left her completely unaware of any threat he may be planning. The Prince almost lost the Princess once, and he vowed not to lose her again. "Be safe, my love; I'm coming home, I promise" the Prince whispered as he entered the cave.

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"I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this story. The Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame is one of my favorite games and so I thought I'd do a novel on the game. This is my very first Fanfiction story and since I'm a high-functioning autistic, I have a very active mind and I will continue to update as quickly as I can. See you next time"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Prince entered the cave and the door he entered through then slammed shut behind him, trapping him in. "Great, now how do I get out of here?" he asked himself looking around the large cave he'd just entered. The cave was large and looked very old with torches lit on the walls; there were also a few potions still fresh and sitting down on the flat ground to the left side. The torches made the Prince wonder if someone lived down here, maybe it was the woman that had spoken to him back on the merchant ship. A tunnel leading right lead the Prince deeper into the large cavern; he chose the right tunnel and began walking down it, hoping to find a way off the island and back to Persia so that he could fight Jaffar and win back Persia from his wicked deeds that he may be planning. As the Prince ran down the tunnel, he didn't notice that a trigger panel had been built into the cave floor which controlled a booby trap dart shooter; he stepped on it and set off the dart shooter blowpipe built in the cave floor just a few feet in front of the trigger panel. A small dart shot out of the pipe and struck the Prince on the side of his neck, causing him to stop running and gasp in pain. "Ow, what in the world?!" he exclaimed painfully and pulled the dart out of his neck and examined what it was that hit him; he tossed the small red dart down to the ground and saw the blowpipe in the ground that fired the dart at him, and then scowled. "Booby traps; I'd better keep my eye out for those. No telling what sort of hocus pocus I might run into down here" the Prince replied to himself and continued walking down the long tunnel and came to a large flat rock blocking his way; he looked around for another way out and then he noticed another trigger panel just a few inches in front of him. The Prince looked cautiously at the floors and ceilings, not wanting to risk getting hit by one of those pesky darts again. He then pressed down on it with his foot and the rock in front of him slowly opened up with a whirring sound; another tunnel came into view along with another trigger panel on the floor just in front of the now opened door and a small pit of lava and a pile of skeleton bones near the end. The Prince entered the new tunnel and stepped on the trigger panel in front of the door, slamming it shut and startling the Prince as well; he shook his head as he jumped over the lava pit. "I hate it when those doors slam like that" he said and reached the end of the tunnel and came to a dead end; the pile of bones began rattling as the Prince looked around for another way out. "What the-?" he said suddenly as the bones then constructed themselves into a living skeleton, and it had a sword to go with it. The skeleton growled at the Prince and slowly started towards him; the Prince reached slowly for his sword in fear. He had faced a skeleton just like the one in front of him eleven days ago back in the dungeons of Persia's royal castle; Jaffar had placed a black magic spell on a pile of skeleton bones in the dungeon causing it to come to life and attempt to stop the Prince from proceeding any further from trying to reach the tower of the Princess and stopping him. However, the Prince forced the skeleton backwards with his sword and caused it to fall into a long drop into the dungeon pits and break into pieces again. The Prince hoped then he'd never have to face such a creature again, but it seemed now that he'd have to; the Prince drew his own sword and swung at the skeleton, knocking the sword out of its bony hand and into the pit of lava behind it. "Not so tough without a sword, are you, you walking bag of bones?" the Prince taunted with a grin and kicked the bony monster into the lava pit, causing it to melt instantly. The Prince returned his sword to its holder and then felt the floor under his feet beginning to crack; it then gave away and the Prince fell into another tunnel area with more piles of skeleton bones and a wall full of holes in it. As the Prince climbed down the wall, he jumped back from it in surprise as a bunch of razor sharp spikes suddenly came bursting out of the holes; he'd barely missed getting spiked from them. "Whoa, didn't see _that _coming; I'd better keep a better eye on the walls in here" the Prince said, a little nervous from the surprise; the spikes retracted back into the wall as he continued down the long tunnel and then came to another door that looked the same as the one he'd enter the cave through. The Prince then realized that this door might just lead out of the cave and he then quickly looked for the trigger panel that would open it; he also wondered if maybe he'd find something on the other side of this door that would get him off the island and back to Persia. As he thought of Persia, he also began to worry about the Princess and what Jaffar might be doing at that moment; the Prince missed her deeply and hoped that he'd be able to return home soon and rid Persia of Jaffar once and for all. The trigger panel for the door was located on a small platform just near the end of the tunnel; the Prince grabbed it with both hand and pulled it down, causing the door to open up, revealing a pair of stairs that lead upward to another part of the strange cave. The Prince looked at the stairs and then started up them quickly; his mind was on getting off the island as quickly as he could. "I've got to get out of here and back home to Persia; Jaffar might be planning something awful back there" the Prince said to himself as he ran up the stairs and into another upper part of the cave.

Meanwhile, back in Persia, things were indeed getting worse just as the Prince predicted; the Sultan's enemies' continued to march towards Persia in attempt to invade the land and subdue it. As a result, the Sultan had to leave home once again to aid his armies in battle; no sooner had he left, the phony Prince (who was Jaffar in disguise) immediately seized power over Persia and began to destroy justice with his iron fist of tyranny once again. When this happened, the people of Persia began wondering why the Prince would do such a thing, after all he'd done to save Persia from Jaffar and his evil deeds; the Princess was heartbroken to see that her husband would betray hers and her fathers trust after all he'd done. However, she didn't know that the man she thought was the one she loved was really Jaffar disguised as her lover; he'd ordered the guards to make sure the Princess didn't leave the castle so that she couldn't tell anyone what he'd been planning to do. The Princess sat at a large table and began writing a message to her father on a long scroll in attempt to warn him of her husbands treason; tears of sorrow flowed from her eyes. "Why...why would you do all this? After all my father did for you..." the Princess said softly; her pet mouse sat on the table looking sad as well. Just then, outside her quarters she heard the guards making a commotion just on the other side of the door. "_NO, STOP...YOUR NOT-!" _she heard the guards cry out; she then heard both of them being struck down by a sword and then the door swung open. The phony Prince stormed in holding his sword; the blade was stained with blood. The Princess gasped in shock when she saw the bodies of her slain bodyguards outside her quarters; Jaffar sneered and shut the door, locking it behind him. "Sorry about that; those guards were being so...rebellious" he replied in a sinister tone of voice; the Princess quickly moved over to the corner of her room with the scroll in her hand. Jaffar caught sight of it and then walked up to her and demanded that she hand it over; the Princess refused which made Jaffar angry. "Hand it over...NOW!" he thundered and drew his sword; not daring to risk getting hurt, the frightened Princess dropped the scroll at Jaffar's feet, which he picked up and read. When he saw that she'd written about his acts of distrust, he glared at the Princess furiously. "So, planning on turning stool pigeon on me, huh?" Jaffar snapped coldly and reached for the Princess. "Why are you doing this?! I thought you loved me!" the Princess cried out stressfully; Jaffar only sneered. "Oh, I do, but unfortunately..." he said and then he lowered his disguise and revealed his true form as the evil vizier with brown skin and a black beard; when the Princess saw this, she was terrified beyond her life. She couldn't believe it; this man whom her real lover had fought and then struck down back in the dungeon's eleven days ago...was alive and once again, back to do more evil. "No...it can't be...!" the Princess gasped softly and placed her hands over her mouth in shock; her pet mouse squealed in terror and dove under the table and hid in fear. Jaffar sneered and then let out a malicious chuckle. "Oh, but it is, and this time your so called "Knight in Shining Armor" isn't going to save you from me; now that I finally have him out of the way, Persia will be mine to rule once I've taken care of you" he told her and then burned the scroll with a fire spell; as Jaffar burned it, the Princess snuck a small dagger from under a wardrobe and was about to stab Jaffar when he turned around and grabbed her by the throat, glaring with rage in his eyes. "You sure have some fight in you, don't you? But I'm afraid that you won't be fighting any longer; it's time for you to take a long nap" he hissed and then chanted a black magic spell in Persian language and then the Princess fell from his grasp and lay still on the floor; Jaffar then let out a cackle. "Did you honestly think you could kill me, you silly girl? I am the most powerful sorcerer on this planet, and now with you out of the way at last, Persia's throne will now be mine!" Jaffar cackled and then he left the room, disguising himself as the Prince again; no sooner had he left, a few of the royal palace doctors heard the commotion from the Princess's quarters and then they came in to find the Princess laying unconscious on the floor by the wardrobe; her pet mouse was whimpering next to her. The doctors alerted Jaffar and then had the Princess placed in her bed and told Jaffar that they could not find any cure for the "strange illness" that had been inflicted upon her and that all they could do was hope and pray that the Princess would recover somehow; Jaffar nodded and told them that he'd keep an eye on her from time to time. As they left the Princess's quarters, Jaffar sneered and then looked back at the Princess laying asleep in her bed; no one knew what had really happened since he used a spell to make the bodies of the Princess's bodyguards vanish after he struck them down. Jaffar leaned down and looked at the Princess's beautiful face. "Thought you were pretty smart, weren't you? And now with you finally out of the way, seizing Persia's throne will be easy as pie" he grinned and then left the room, chuckling. When the news of the Princess's sudden illness had gotten out, the kingdom of Persia began to panic when they heard that the Prince was now in command of the throne; they already knew of his treachery and knew that they were now in trouble since the Sultan was out fighting in the war and the Princess was now ill. The People of Persia prayed that this new reign of terror Jaffar was causing would end, but all hope seemed lost...for now. The Princess's pet mouse squeaked and hoped that the Princess would wake up, but she stayed silent; the mouse whimpered with worry and hoped that his beloved mistress would awaken.

Back on the island inside the ancient cave, the Prince exited another door to another upper part of the large cave; this was the third room he'd come up to and he was beginning to grow worried and impatient. He'd already searched for a way to get back to Persia below in the other levels of the cave, but found nothing, and now he was in yet another cave room. The Prince turned to his right and saw a tunnel that lead down into another room full of booby trap dart shooters and a few closed doors; there was also another spiked wall underneath the pathway the Prince was walking on. As the Prince came to the door and opened it with the trigger panel on the floor, he sank to the ground near another closed door ahead of the path and buried his head in his hands; he was desperate now and wanted off the island as quickly as he could. He thought of the Princess back in Persia and what might be happening at that moment; as he did, another strange thing happened in his mind like on the merchant ship, but slightly different. In his mind, the Prince saw a large oak tree in the middle of Persia's royal garden with seventy-six leaves on its branches; one leaf fell off. And then the Prince heard that mysterious womans voice again in his mind, and when she spoke, it was with grim news that made the Prince's worst nightmares come true. "_Prince, your bride is dying; when the last leaf on this tree falls, she will be lost forever. You must waste no more time; you have seventy-five minutes to return and defeat Persia's greatest nemesis, or all hope for your lover and Persia will be lost. Come to me" _the woman explained in a grave, but calm voice. The Prince immediately bolted his head up and then got up to his feet in a flash; his palms began to sweat with fear and anger. "No...no...no...NO, NO, NO, NO!" the Prince shout while pounding the cave walls with his fists in anger; Jaffar had finally done it. The Prince leaned his head on the closed door and breathed heavily through his gritted teeth; he was now filled with a rage he'd never felt before. His Princess, his beloved Princess whom he loved so much was all the way back in Persia, suffering from the hands of Jaffar in someway he didn't know of and could only guess. Was Jaffar torturing her for information, beating her, or using her as a human guinea pig for practicing his horrible black magic spells? Whatever it was, it was beyond the Prince's or even the the Sultan's knowing for anyone; Jaffar was pure evil, and he had to be stopped, no matter what the cost was. "I swear by God, I will have your head for this, Jaffar!" the Prince screamed angrily; his voice echoed throughout the cave tunnels. The Prince continued through the cave and opened as many doors as he could and when he was about ready to give up hope, he came into a large room with old rusty chains on the walls and a large royal carpet laying in the middle of the room bathed in sunlight; sunlight! The Prince looked up and sure enough, there was a large opening in the ceiling with light coming through it, only there was one problem, it was blocked with a metal gate. The Prince sighed and looked around the room for anything that might open the ceiling gate; he spotted a trigger panal at the top of the room on another path, but it was too high for him to reach up and grab onto. "Great; now how do I get up there?" the Prince snapped in frustration and placed his hands on his hips; he then spotted a tunnel up ahead and saw that it went further into the cave. "Well, I guess that's the only tunnel I can go through. Maybe I can find another way up to that path to open that gate in the ceiling and get the heck out of this rusty old cavern" The Prince said with a shrug and went down the tunnel. As he went down the tunnel, he wondered how he'd be able to leave the island once he got out through that hole in the ceiling once the gate was opened. He still hadn't found a way to leave the island and that merchant ship was scrapped from Jaffar's lighting spell, so there was no going back on that; the Prince vowed to find a way off the island even if he had to swim back to Persia even though he knew that doing that was suicide. The Prince almost lost the Princess one and he was not going to lose her again; the Prince then entered a room down the way with yet another skeleton with a sword standing near the door. As the Prince started towards the door, he drew his sword and slashed off the creatures fleshless hand and grabbed it by the neck and look at it straight in the eye. "Piss off, bone head; I've got a wife who needs me and your holding me back" the Prince said coldly and then threw the skeleton behind him, which hit the wall so hard it shattered into small pieces like crushed gravel; the Prince then returned his sword to it's holder and then continued down the path and then came across a large space that lead upward into the cave, along with small spaces to climb up. The Prince realized that this would bring him up higher and maybe even to that trigger panel to open the ceiling gate back there where the rug was; he could then use the rusty chains in that room to form a rope and climb out of the cave. "I'd better watch my step and not fall" the Prince said aloud and then climbed up each path by pulling himself up; he repeated this until he finally reached the top and came up to a long old, wooden rickety bridge with a skeleton armed with a sword guarding the end. The Prince growled in frustration and started towards the skeleton with his sword drawn. He carefully stepped across the bridge trying hard not to move too fast or the bridge might have broken; a long dark pit lay beneath the bridge. The skeleton also started towards him with a snarl and then met up with he Prince and swung its sword which the Prince blocked. He then swung his sword and attempted to sever its bony head, but his idea was foiled as the skeleton blocked his blow and then tried to strike him again; the Prince grew impatient as he tried fighting his way past the bony creature. "Get out of my way, you dang pile of bones; I haven't got time for this!" the Prince shouted and then he swung his sword hard and knocked the skeletons sword right out of its hand and then the bridge cracked and then shattered into pieces; the skeleton screeched in terror as it fell into the bottomless pit and was gone forever. The Prince jumped and grabbed onto the ledge just in time to avoid falling into the pit, but when he climbed up onto the ledge, his sword fell from his grasp and into the pit; the Prince then looked into the black pit and stumped his foot angrily. "Oh great; brilliant. Now I have defending myself to worry about now as well!" he snapped angrily and then continued down the long tunnel and then he came to another gap in the ground which he jumped over and then he finally re-entered the room with the chains and carpet, and of course the hole in the ceiling. The Prince then saw the trigger panel for the ceiling gate and then pressed it as he climbed down; the gate opened with a swish and the Prince sighed with relief. "Finally, now I get out of this god forsaken cave once and for all" he said with relief and was about to grab the chains when he slipped on the end of the carpet and fell on it; the carpet then suddenly rose into the air a few inches above the ground and towards the opening in the ceiling. "Whoa, neat-o; a magic carpet" the Prince said in surprise and then suddenly he realized that this carpet was his ticket off the island; he leaned down towards the front of the carpet. "Can you take me back to Persia?" he asked the carpet softly; the carpet suddenly rose into the air and flew out of the opening and started flying across the sea. The Prince was free at last and on his way home; as the magic carpet flew him across the sea, the Prince suddenly remembered the strange woman who had appeared to him back on the merchant ship and wondered where she may be. She had told the Prince to come to her, but never told him where she was; maybe she knew what was happening and knew of a way to stop Jaffar. As he thought about it, the carpet suddenly shook and then headed up into the clouds on a new course; the Prince was puzzled. "Hey, where are you taking me?" the Prince asked the rug; no response. The carpet continued across the sky on its new course as the Prince sat and held on tightly to it to avoid falling off. After a few minutes, the magic carpet descended through the sky and an ancient city atop a large mountain came into view; it was a large blue city, or what was once a blue city. The place lay in ruins from years of being abandoned and was practically crumbling in some places; the city looked decades old, maybe even older. As the Prince gazed upon it, he suddenly got a strange feeling inside him, like deja'vu. The large city had a large, faded symbol of a circle with a triangle above the entrance to the city. "Hmm, this place seems...so formiliar in some way. I don't know if I've been here before, but yet these blue ruins seem like something I might have seen before, but I just don't remember when" the Prince replied as the carpet lowered itself near a ledge where the entrance to the blue ruins was. Then, the Prince heard that strange womans voice again, but this time it sounded louder and much closer. "_Come to me..._" the woman replied as the carpet flung the Prince off of it and onto the ground in front of the entrance to the blue ruins. "Oof!" he grunted as he hit the ground; the carpet then flew off into the sky as the Prince got onto his feet. "No, wait; come back" the Prince called out, but the carpet was gone and already out of sight; he sighed and placed his hands on his hips and took a look at the large city in front of him. He had expected the carpet to return him to Persia, but instead it took him to a ruined city that seemed vague, yet formiliar. The Prince then decided that he couldn't just pout around, he had only sixty-nine minutes left to get back to Persia before his lover perished forever; he then remembered the womans voice and realized that she must be inside the ruins somewhere. The Prince exhaled and walked towards the entrance. "Well, I guess I'm off on another adventure again, without a sword" the Prince said disdainfully as he entered the blue ruins and prepared himself for the dangers that might be inside.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Prince entered the blue ruins and looked around; to his left was an opened, rusty old gate and close to it, a trigger panel. The Prince decided to go through the gate and started towards it, but when he stepped on the trigger panel in front of it, the gate shut tight with a clank. "Shoot; better go the other way then" the Prince said with a huff and came to a dead end at the right; shortly after he turned to find another way out, the floor crumbled and broke into pieces and the Prince fell down into another part of the ruins. As he got back up on his feet, he heard a hiss on the ground in front of him and looked down; a poisonous asp snake was slithering towards him with its beady red eyes glaring at him in the face. The Prince grumbled and stepped back a bit. "Snakes, why does it have to be snakes?" he grumbled and then leapt as the snake tried to bite his foot and landed on its head, killing it instantly; the Prince heard a sick crunch under his foot as the snakes skull cracked. "Gotta find another way to fight, until I find another sword that is" the Prince exclaimed in disgust and continued onward through the ruined city. As he continued walking down the long blue walkway, he wondered who might have lived here and above all, where they all could have gone to; his thoughts were interrupted as a large blade, as big as a machete, swung out of the wall and almost risked getting sliced in half. "Whoa, who built _that _into the wall?" the Prince gasped in fright and then jumped back. He didn't expect such a large blade to be hidden inside the wall of some ancient city, nor did he expect anyone to build it into the wall of any place. The Prince got down on the ground and crawled under the blade to avoid being hit by the booby trapped wall blade and then got back on his feet at the other end of the blade to continue his way through the ruins in hopes of finding the woman who kept beckoning him to find her. The Prince wondered why that magic carpet had brought him here to this old ruined city as he came up to a dead end wall with a hole at the bottom. He looked inside the hole and found that it tunneled into another room past the one that he was in; the Prince got down on the ground and crawled through the long tunnel. He then resumed his thoughts on that magic carpet that took him out of the cave back on the island and brought him here; he wondered if maybe that woman that appeared to him from time to time had something to do with that magic carpet bringing him here. The Prince pondered those thoughts as he exited the tunnel and found himself inside a smaller room with a few paths leading up higher and a few broken up skeletons laying on the moldy blue tiled floor; he carefully neared it, fearing that it might come to life and attack him like the ones back in the caves had done. They didn't move as the Prince climbed up the path; he guessed that these ones were not undead like the cave skeletons and sighed with relief. As the Prince got fully up onto the new path, he noticed something shiny glimmering in the dusky sunlight; it was a dagger. The Prince rushed over and picked it up and examined it; it looked fairly new and seemed in good condition. "Well, this isn't as good as a sword, but it'll have to do for now" the Prince said and then place it into his old sword holder. As he was about to continue on his way again, he heard a soft grunting noise in the room above him; it sounded more like a growl than a grunt. The Prince notice a hole in the ceiling on the left and headed over to it to find the source of the sound in hopes that maybe it was someone who knew where he was. He climbed up the path and found himself on the top of the ruins in a room higher than any of the other ones and then heard the strange growling again, this time it sounded louder and closer than before. "Is someone there, anyone?" the Prince called out and jumped over the hole to try and find the source of the sound; near the end of the room he looked around and then saw what had been making the sound and almost cried out in horror. The source of the sound was a terrifying, zombified human head, or what may have once been a head; it looked female with long. moldy green hair, pure black eyes, a hollow black hole where its neck may have been, and a set of razor sharp pointy teeth showing from its growling mouth. The head hovered over the next platform above the one the Prince was standing on and then turned to face him; it let out a loud shriek and charged towards the Prince with its teeth bearing. "No you don't!" the Prince cried out and drew his dagger and stabbed the creature right in its forehead. The head screamed as it crumbled to dust at the Princes feet; the Prince then placed the dagger back in his holder and headed up to the next platform and found steps in the wall leading higher up into the ruins. He proceeded on climbing up them as he pondered his thoughts on that spooky head creature he'd just killed and decided to best keep an eye out around the place; that head may not have been the only one here. "Man, where's the way out of here?" the Prince sighed in frustration as he climbed up to the very top and found himself now on what had been the roof of this place; he looked all around the outside world around him and found only vast deserts and sand dunes. But then far, far away from the ruins in the direction the Prince was about to continue onto, was a large temple, miles away from where he was now; it was almost a speck to the Prince since he was so far away. "Civilization; I'd better go there after I've found a way out of these ruins" the Prince decided and continued on his quest across a long walkway leading to a large 10-foot drop at the end and another one of those screaming zombie head; it shrieked and attempted to attack the Prince. He swung his foot and kicked the head as hard as he could, sending the head flying across the torn up room and clean through the wall; the Prince then spat at the wall and nodded with a smirk. "That'll cut back on using my dagger" he said and started climbing down the path to find a way out of the ruins in hopes of then going to that strange temple far across the dunes. At the bottom of the drop was a room with a closed gate on his left and a large door built into the wall with that strange circle/triangle symbol on it like at the ruins entrance; it was his way out! The Prince walked up to the door and tried opening it himself in hopes that it would open from years of rotting, but the door wouldn't budge even a twitch; it was stuck tight. The Prince folded his arms and shook his head and wondered how he could open it; he then remembered that at the entrance of the ruins was a trigger panel that slammed one of the old gates shut as he neared it. "That's it; there must be a trigger panel around here somewhere" the Prince said and looked around the room for anything that might be a button or switch; there wasn't any. As he was about to give up and look somewhere else, he saw a trigger panel on the other side of the closed gate and attempted to reach his hand through and press it; the Prince suddenly yanked his hand back when he started reaching through the gate. A bunch of poisonous snakes were resting near the panel and were cautiously watching the Prince; he didn't dare reach his hand through without getting bitten. "Great, now how do I press it?" the Prince snapped while looking at the snakes watching him and noticed one starting to slither towards him. The Prince backed away as the snake moved onto the trigger panel and started to slither through the gate; the panel suddenly sank into the floor and the door to the next area opened. The Prince looked at the door in surprise and realized that the snakes weight had pressed the panel down enough to open it and then scoffed. "I suppose I should be grateful for that" he said to the snake and then head into the door way that had been opened by the snake and hoped that he'd find what it was he was looking for. As he ran up the steps in the small corridor, he wondered if his lover was in pain and then started running with hope up the steps and into the next area.

**2 areas later:**

The Prince found himself in yet another room of the ruins once again and then exclaimed in frustration with a stomp; he'd already gotten past two other areas which had been filled with more zombie heads, poisonous snakes, and more booby trapped blade walls. The Prince had wasted fifteen minutes on attempting to find a way back to Persia since he saw the vision of the oak tree back at the caves and had grown more desperate each area he came to. He climbed down a long drop and stopped to rest for a few seconds when he suddenly heard a soft whimpering sound coming at the end of the long hall in front of him. The Prince ran down the hall and then came to a halt in front of a poisonous snake; it attempted to strike the Prince, but missed as he pulled out his dagger and severed the snakes head from its body. Blood pooled around the snakes body as the Prince put his dagger away and continued down the hall towards the strange whimpering; the Prince saw that the whimpering was coming from one of those zombified heads. The creature was laying in the corner of the wall with black tears running down its face and its mouth was frowned in pain; the Prince then noticed two small punture marks on the creatures forehead and realized that one of those snakes must have bitten it. The Prince then saw an opening in the ceiling above the head and was about to go through it when he stopped next to the injured zombie head; it whined and whimpered as the Prince looked down at it. The Prince looked at the creature with pity, even though these heads normally were an enemy to him; he noticed that the bite wound had swollen greatly and had been causing the creature to just lay on the floor alone and in pain. The Prince knew that this creature was beyond hope and decided to put it out of its misery; he pulled out his dagger and leaned down towards the whimpering head. It didn't even try to defend itself, it was almost as if it wanted the Prince to end is life from the pain it was in; the Prince raised the dagger above the head and then plunged it into the creature, killing it instantly. The Prince sniffed in pain as his put his dagger away, not from physical pain, but simply because he'd taken the life of an innocent creature; he bit down on his tongue as his climbed up the hole in the ceiling to avoid braking down in tears. The Prince didn't like killing _any _living thing , no matter how hideous or ugly. He had only done that in the past to defend himself from the ones that were attempting to hurt him or kill him, but after doing what he'd just done, he felt full of regreat. The head he'd just killed had done nothing to him, but yet it had still suffered from the fangs of a snake and caused it to die slowly and may have died a very slow and painful death had the Prince not killed it himself. Was there any peace in death? The Prince didn't know, he only knew that the woman he loved was suffering back in Persia and he needed to get back there within fifty-eight minutes or she'd be lost forever; the Prince climbed up through the hole and into a large, ancient throne room, or what may have been a throne room. The Prince looked around the throne room and saw two very large gates on each side of the throne room which had rusted and over the years and had even broken into pieces slightly. Leading to the old, broken up throne chair was a torn up rug and the walls and ceiling had holes in them, but what caught the Princes attention was something shiny reflecting off a broken piece of stain glass on the floor in front of him; the Prince turned to his rear and saw a sword laying on the ground next to the rusty gate behind him. "A sword! At last, I can use this instead of that old dagger; it didn't do me much good anyway" the Prince said in relief and then removed the dagger from his old sword holder and let it fall into the hole he'd climbed up through; the Prince then leaned down and picked up the sword to examine it. It was an ancient royal sword with the same circle/triangle emblem on it like he'd seen before and looked almost like his old one. It also looked new and in great condition like the dagger had looked when he found it. "My, this is a fine sword; this could really help me on-". But before the Prince could finish his sentence, the sword suddenly glowed bright white and then the Prince suddenly screamed in pain; he felt as if he'd been shocked with a thousand volts of electricity and then fell to the floor and blacked out.

A few seconds after the Prince blacked out, he awoke and rubbed his eyes. "Man, what was that all about?" he questioned as he got up to his feet to retrieve the sword he'd dropped after being shocked by that unknown force; the Prince picked the sword back up, feeling a bit nervous about being shocked again, but nothing happened. "I was right right; these ruins are so-" he started, but then stopped when he saw his surroundings; the room no longer looked _like _ruins anymore. The room was now filled with shiny jewels and treasure on each side of the ling royal carpet leading up to the royal throne, which now looked like new with rubies on the ends of the throne chair arms and with gold linings on the sides of it. The large rusty gates on the Princes left and right also looked new; they were now perfectly straight and painted pure royal gold which shined in the sunlight. The hole in the floor was also gone. The Princes eyes widened in surprise as he saw all of this; just a minute ago before he blacked out the place was in ruins and now all of a sudden it looked like new. "What in the...?" he exclaimed in surprise while holding the new sword in his hands; what he saw next surprised him even more. Next to the royal throne chair, the mysterious woman in blue appeared slowly out of thin air and fully into the Princes view; the Prince looked upon her in wonder and then looked around the room and a strange new feeling came to him. He remembered being shocked by the sword a minute ago and now after waking up, the room looked different; he wondered if maybe he was dead and was now somewhere in between another realm of the afterlife. But the Prince was even more concerned about the woman in front of him and dismissed those thoughts from his mind as he neared this strange woman. "Are...are you the woman whom I've heard from and have been searching for?" the Prince asked her softly; the woman nodded. "Prince, don't you know who I am?" the blue robed woman asked him in her gentle, soothing voice. "No, but whenever I've heard your voice and seen you in my dreams, I get the feeling that I _have_ seen you somewhere before" the Prince answered in an unsure tone. The woman walked up closely to the Prince and looked at the sword he was holding. "There is a reason for that, Prince; it is time to tell you why I have been beckoning you to find me and why I seem familiar to you" the woman said and then looked around the royal room. "These ruins you've been journeying through was my home many, many years ago before my death. This throne room was also the royal court hall where my husband sat upon the throne and ruled" she explained; the Prince then realized that these ruins were not just any ruins, this place was a kingdom once...and this woman had been the queen of this royal city. "This place was once a great royal city many years ago, ruled by my husband the King; I was his queen and ruled by his side," the woman continued, "but peace was not to last forever here. Shortly after I had given birth to my husband child, armies of darkness from a foreign land lead by an evil sorcerer invaded this place and as a result, war broke out between the enemy and the kingdom". The Prince felt shocked to hear such a thing, what made him wonder even more was who this child the woman had given birth to could be. "Who was this child that you gave birth to?" the Prince asked in concern; the woman smiled and then placed both her hands on the Princes shoulders. "The child I gave birth to...is standing right before me" she replied; the Princes eyes widened and he dropped the sword in surprise. "Are...are you saying...that I'm your son?!" he gasped in surprise and wonder at once; the woman nodded with a smile. "Yes, it is you, my son" she replied and embraced him; the Prince was too surprised to even move. As the woman drew back, she continued her story. "Sadly though, I was not able to keep you since the armies of darkness overpowered us and took victory over our city. Our kingdom was outnumbered and outgunned which left us no match for them" the woman continued and looked down sadly at the floor; the Prince then knew why this place was in ruins when he heard his mother say that. "They...they won?" he asked sadly; his mother nodded. "Yes, after they won, they stormed in and took every bit of royal treasure they could find; those horrible men...they easily killed everyone that stood in their way. They tortured, raped, and even killed any woman they could get their evil hands on; we didn't stand a chance" the Princes mother continued; she wiped a tear from her eye as she told her son this tragic story. The Prince was horrified to hear such a terrible thing like that; how could any man do such a horrible thing and still do what they do? "Did you suffer this terrible fate?" the Prince asked in deep concern. "No, I was killed while trying to protect you; your father and I decided that it would be too dangerous to keep you here after we'd lost the war and then made a final decision. I called for a merchant who'd been visiting the palace before the war was lost and told him to take you with him into Persia so that you'd survive; shortly after the merchant left with you, the leader of this evil army broke into the throne room and attacked me and your father" the Princes mother replied with her hands folded in front of her; the Prince wondered who this leader could have been. "Who was this leader that did this?" the Prince asked, sounding angry and stressed; when his mother answered, the mans name would haunt him forever more. "After he struck your father dead while trying to protect me, he cornered me and told me his name right before he stabbed me to death with his sword" she answered and then said it. "The man said "I am Jaffar, and I shall be your undoing", and then he killed me" the Princes mother replied; the Prince exploded when he heard that name. "WHAT!? YOU MEAN...?" the Prince cried out; his mother nodded. "Yes, the leaders name was Jaffar from the land of Persia; at that time before he'd become the Sultans vizier, he had been in charge of Occult organizations and witchcraft armies. Since his armies had been trained in the art of witchcraft, we were easy to defeat and conquer. The reason he chose this place is because he was after you" the Princes mother answered; the Prince turned around slightly and stomped his foot in blind rage. This was more than he could ever take; first his family, and now the Princess. Jaffar had crossed the line this time and now the Prince was filled with even more hatred towards this vile betrayer. He looked around the room and thought of all the innocent men, women, and children who had once lived here. How many had suffered at the hands of this insane sorcerer? The Prince may never know. He swore that he'd kill this man once and for all when and if he returned to Persia. The Prince looked down and shook his head sadly and angrily; he sniffed with angst. "How many were killed? he asked in almost a whisper; his mother placed her hand on his shoulder. "None of us survived; after Jaffar killed us all, he cursed some of the dead so that their heads would forever haunt this place, unable to find peace in death" she replied; the Prince then knew what all those zombified, screaming heads were back there in the ruins. Those heads were just the poor, innocent souls Jaffar had cursed and severed from their bodies; the Prince pitied them, he pitied them all. "Why did Jaffar want me?" the Prince asked looking back at his mother. "He wanted you so that he'd be able to raise you as his own son in hopes that one day you'd be like him; you had already been sent off to Persia after he killed me" his mother answered; the Prince then looked down at the sword he'd dropped. "I have to stop him, mother; but how do I get back to Persia? I'm here and Persia is all the way back across the sea" the Prince asked her while looking out the window. "There is a way you can stop him, my son, but you will need the right power in order to finish him for good" his mother said and then moved over to the window. "What power?" the Prince asked in confusion. "Not far from here is a large red temple; inside it at the very top floor is a large, sacred blue flame containing the power of a bird Goddess. You will need to journey through that temple and touch that flame, when you do that, the flame will fill you with a magical power stronger than any form of magic anyone could ever possess, even Jaffar's black magic would be no match for it" the Princes mother explained; the Princes hopes began to rise a bit when he heard her tell him this. "You mean that when I touch it, I be stronger than Jaffar?" the Prince asked; his mother nodded. "Yes, but you will not be able to touch it physically; there's a certain way that you have to do it" his mother explained. "How then?" the Prince asked wondering what she meant by not touching it physically. "In order to touch the flame, you will need to separate your soul from your body in order to obtain the power of the flame. You must turn back and forth a few times and afterwards, your soul will separate from your body and then you will be able to touch the flame and obtain its power" his mother explained thoroughly. The Prince wondered how doing this was possible; how could someone simply separate their own soul apart from their body? "How is doing that even possible?" the Prince asked his mother in confusion. "Do you remember Jaffar's magic mirror; the one you jumped right through back in the Sultan's castle?" his mother hinted; the Prince remembered. When the Prince had been working his way up to the top of the Princess's tower, Jaffar had made a magical mirror appear in his path to try and block his way. Seeing no other option, the Prince attempted to jump through the mirror and shatter it, but instead, something strange happened; when the Prince jumped through the mirror, he left something behind. When he jumped through, an exact replica of himself, a shadow, had been created by the mirror and ran off. The Prince later confronted his own shadow at the top of the tower before striking down Jaffar; he then reemerged with it and became whole again. "Yes, I ended up confronting a shadow form of myself on another floor of the castle and then finally rejoined with it once I got to the very top of the castle" the Prince answered; his mother nodded. "That shadow you reemerged with is now a part of you, and it also gifted you with something else which you did not know at the time" she told her son who wondered what gift she was talking about. "And what is that?" the Prince asked. "That magic mirror contained some of Jaffar's own dark magic abilities. When you jumped through it, the shadow was created with Jaffar's black magic; this was the flaw he had not expected since he was so full of himself and his evil plans at the time. What actually happened when you merged with the shadow was this; when you and the shadow became one, Jaffar's magical powered also became part of you as well. That is why you will be able to do what you need to do" his mother explained; the Prince was baffled by what his mother was telling him. "Are you saying that all this time, I've had the power of Jaffar inside me?" he asked in shock; his mother nodded. "Yes, and now that you know this, you can use it against him" she answered. "Okay, so where is this red temple at?" the Prince asked. "Its across the dunes not far from the ruins across an enormous gap in the mountain area where you are now. The gap is too wide for you to jump over, so you will need a horse to get across the gap and to the red temple" his mother explained thoroughly. "A horse? I haven't seen any horses around here and I don't think I'll find any of them around here" the Prince in regret. "That's true, but at the end of the ruins is a large horse statue that has been enchanted with a magical power that will make it come to life once you climb onto it; it will take you to the red temple once you climb onto it" his mother told him; the Prince then looked at the sword he held and then made a decision. He'd go to that temple and absorb the sacred flame and finish Jaffar once and for all. "Will the flame kill Jaffar for good this time?" the Prince asked worriedly. "Yes, I believe that once you use the power of the flame to defeat him, he will be gone for good, which is what I've been praying for since you came here. The sword you hold is your fathers sword. Use it as any swordsman would use it for; to defeat the evil that must be destroyed" his mother said proudly. The Prince looked at the sword and then placed it in his sword holder and then looked at his mother again. "All right; once I have the flame, how do I get back to Persia?" he asked. "You will find another horse statue at the top of the red temple which will return you to Persia. I have told you all that needs to be said; return to Persia, kill Jaffar and bring peace to the land that is needed" his mother told him; she began to fad and the Prince reached out for her. "No, please, don't leave me; Mother!" he cried out; but she continued to fade away. "My time has come to cross over into the next world; go and avenge me and your father, along with all the innocents Jaffar slaughter mercilessly" his mother replied and then raised both her hands in the air. "Avenge us...avenge us" she repeated until she faded away completely; the Prince then suddenly felt dizzy and blacked out once again.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Prince awoke on the floor after a few seconds and got back on his feet; he looked around the room and found himself in the same ruined throne room as he had before he touched the sword. As the Prince got back up, he remembered everything his mother had told him and that now he needed to find that horse statue at the ends of his ruined homeland. He saw a large hole in the torn up gate in front of him and walked through it and found himself in another long, tall room filled with more shrieking heads; he looked at them and pitied them when he recalled his mother telling him that Jaffar's black magic had cursed them and ended up without a body and zombified. The Prince wondered how long these heads had been floating around in here, cursed and all alone; ten years, twenty? He didn't know exactly how long, but he knew that he couldn't worry about that now; he had a Princess and an entire kingdom to save. The Prince rushed down the long hall and dove for the trigger panel as the zombified heads noticed him and then shrieked. "Not again..." the Prince said in frustration; he pressed the panel down and drew his sword as he ran for the opened door that would lead him to the end of the ruins. One of the heads attempted to bite the Prince as he ran up the stairs to the next floor that lead to the end of the ruins and out into the desert; the Prince swung his fathers sword and sent the head flying away in two pieces. "Finally, I'm at the end. Now I just need to find this horse statue to get to that red temple my mother told me about" the Prince said to himself with determination as he made it up to the last floor and to the ruins end. The door slammed shut behind him as the Prince ran down the long path and came up to a large gap which he jumped over. As he made it across the gap, he saw something old at the end of the platforms that ended from the ruins and old into the desert sand dunes; it was the horse statue that his mother told him about. And then, far across the dunes, the Prince saw a red building on a large sand dune; it looked like a small speck from eye view since the Prince was so far away from it. "That must be the red temple; I'd better get there quickly, I only have 36 minutes left until hope is lost" the Prince said and then noticed several large walk paths held up by pillars above him which ended at the horse statue; he got an idea. The Prince climbed up several steps and up onto the long platform that lead to the horse statue at the end; he then noticed that the long platform had quite a few gaps in it and realized that he'd have to time his jumps right or else he'd fall 10 feet down to the ground. The Prince looked at the gaps, timed his jumps and took off running across the platform; he jumped over the first four gaps and saw three shrieking heads below him which began to chase after him as he continued across. "No, you darn heads; I haven't got time for this!" the Prince shouted and came to the last platform just a few feet away from the large horse statue and drew his sword. He struck down the shrieking heads and turned to the statue; he ran across the platform and with a leap of faith, landed on the horse statue. As the Prince grabbed the reigns of the horse statue, it came to life and whinnied as it jumped off its pedestal. The Prince tapped the horse and pointed at the red temple far in the distance. "Yeah; all right! To the red temple, run like the wind, bullseye!" the Prince cried out proudly and the horse took off running across the sand dunes at full speed; the Prince was now on his way to the temple of the bird Goddess. Soon, once he'd gotten the power of the blue sacred flame at the top of the temple, he'd finally be able to take on Jaffar once again and hopefully destroy him for good this time. The horse came to an enormous gap that lead thousands of feet down below and with a mighty leap, it jumped across the long gap and continued towards the red temple. "Good horse; keep going!" the Prince cried as they both raced farther and farther until finally, they came up to the front of the red temple and slowed down as they rode under a small pillared entrance. The horse then walked slowly into the temple as the Prince looked around and observed this new place. The temple was enormous with lots of platforms, strange writing on the walls, bird people statues, and an emblem of the temple built in above the opened entrance. "Whoa boy" the Prince said softly to the horse and it then came to a stop and the Prince climbed down from it and onto the red tiled floor; everything was almost red in this temple. The horse transformed back into a statue as the Prince started onward into the temple to find a way to the top to obtain the power of the sacred flame.

As the Prince made his way through the long corridor, he heard strange chanting at the end. "What's that?" the Prince asked himself as he ran down the corridor and to the end; he found himself inside the biggest room he'd ever been in before. The room was square shaped with candelabras around all corners of the room and in the center of the room were thirteen men dressed in black robes and wearing bird shaped hats kneeling and chanting in front of an enormous statue of a nude female figure, half bird, half woman. The statue had bird wings and feathers for arms, stretching out in flight position, and it also had bird tail feathers sticking out from the end of its spine just above its behind; a gold crown sat on the statues head as well. "_That must be the statue of the bird Goddess they worship" _the Prince thought as he crept behind other objects and pillars to avoid being caught. As he made it past the pillars, he saw a golden gate that was opened up down the long lit corridor. The Prince rushed towards it and walked through it and stepped on a red trigger panel which slammed it shut; one of the temple guards heard the slamming down at the end of the hall near an opening in the ceiling and spotted the Prince. "Hey you, halt!" the guard called out and rushed towards the Prince with a sword; the Prince skidded to a stop and hesitated on striking the guard dead with his sword. The guard was only protecting the temple and its sacred flame from any outsiders who might try to steal it and thought the Prince was also a threat; the Prince refused to draw his sword and instead, struck the guard hard on his bird hatted head with his fist, knocking him out cold. The guard dropped his sword and fell to to the floor, laying still. "Sorry pal, but I have to get to the top" the Prince said softly in regret and turned his head behind him to be sure no reinforcements were coming; there weren't any other guards coming. The Prince sighed with relief and then walked up to the opening in the ceiling and came into a smaller room with a large hollow filled space in the wall behind him and another gate ahead of him above a higher step a few feet above the wall in front of the one the Prince was facing; two trigger panels were built into the red tiled floor in front of him. "Lets try them both" the Prince suggested and ran ahead, stepping on both panels as he moved on. The gate opened up above him but as it did so, a rumbling, squeaking gear sound started coming from behind him; the Prince turned his head behind him again and saw the wall started to close in on him from behind. "Oh great, another booby trap; perfectly natural for a sacred temple" the Prince scoffed sarcastically as he then climbed up the step in front of him and ran through the gate; two bird hatted guards were in the room he entered. "Hey, stop where you are" the front one ordered and drew his sword; the Prince gritted his teeth in frustration and drew his own sword. "Look, I don't want trouble, I need to get to the top. Now get out of my way" the Prince snapped loudly. "Your going nowhere but out" the guard behind the front one replied with his sword drown. The Prince looked at both of the guards with their swords drawn and realized that they meant business; he would have no choice but to fight them since he knew that there was no reasoning with them. The Prince raised his own sword and slowly stepped towards the guards with a look of anger and frustration on his face. He was not going to let these guards waste his time any longer; only 24 minutes remained until everything the Prince went through would have been for nothing. "I'm not going anywhere; I'm going up to the top of this place and taking a piece of the sacred flame even if I have to strike you _all _down!" the Prince bellowed and then swung his sword at the guard in front of him and stuck him dead; the second guard, outraged, charged at the Prince and swung away at him with his own sword. The Prince block several blows and then decided to make his move; instead of killing this guard, the Prince slammed the hilt of his sword in the guards head which knocked him out like the first one he'd seen near the starting point. "So much for no trouble" the Prince said in disgust from doing what he had to do. He stashed his sword and ran further into the temple and came into a large room with a big door in the wall with a figure of a bird hatted guard drawn on it; a trigger panal lay on the floor in front of a closed gate ahead of the Prince. "Good, I hope this opens the door" he said hopefully as he stepped on it; the big door opened up slowly and the Prince nodded. "Yes, on to the next floor. Gotta get there quickly" he cheered and ran up the steps through the opened door hoping it would take him quickly to the top.

**3 Floors Later...**

The Prince came into a small room with a gap in the floor behind him and two closed gates; he was still a bit exhausted from the last area he'd climbed. The previous room was very large with a hundred foot platform that the Prince had to climb to reach the next area of the temple he'd just entered. The red door slammed shut behind the Prince as he turned to see a trigger panel behind him over the gap. "I sure hope I don't run into anymore guards; I don't like having to fight them" the Prince hoped as he jumped over the gap and onto the trigger panel which opened the gate behind him. The Prince jumped over the gap and ran through the open gate to find a larger room full of guards waiting for him. "Oh crud" the Prince snapped as the guards turned their attention towards him. "Hey you, stop where you are!" one of the guards called out with his sword drawn; far across the room, the Prince saw through one of the closed gates, a large blue glow emitting from one of the far rooms. "The Sacred flame" the Prince gasped and realized that he'd finally reached the top; his quest was almost coming near the end. He took off as fast as he could, running like a road runner towards the gate; the guards behind him gave chase. "HALT!" they all shouted at once as the Prince jumped over the gaps ahead of him and landed on a trigger panal at the end which opened both gates ahead of him. "Almost there..." the Prince panted as he ran like he never had before; once he had the power of that Sacred flame, he'd finally be able to take down Jaffar once and for all and avenge his dead Mother and Father. "Stop! We won't warn you again" the lead guard shouted and ran closer to the Prince who was already running out of the room and jumping across a huge gap that lead 50 feet down. Once the Prince reached the other side, he entered the last room and stepped on a trigger panel in front of him which shut the gates behind him. The Prince leaned over and panted from all that running. "Man, finally...I'm at the last room" he sighed with relief and looked ahead and saw...the glowing blue Sacred flame of the bird Goddess at the end of the long bridge ahead of him; a large drop stood in the middle of the bridge and of course, ten guards were patrolling the area. The Prince looked at them and then realized that he'd have to fight them without hesitation; he had to get the flame no matter what the cost was. The Prince drew his sword and then took off running towards the Sacred flame which burned in the large stone talon of another bird Goddess statue. The guards saw him and quickly drew their swords as the Prince ran towards them and then past them. "He's after the Sacred flame; stop him!" the guard that the Prince ran past bellowed; the Prince had jumped across the gap and came to a crowd of guards around the glowing flame. The Prince looked at it and felt its heat emitting from it and imagined how powerful he'd be once he had it; he then looked coldly at the guards in front of him and raised his sword. "Step aside and let me through; its a matter of life or death" he said strongly; the guards refused. "Never! The flame shall not be taken. Leave this temple or be struck down" the front guard warned. The Prince stepped closer to the guards. "Don't make me hurt you; now I said move!" the Prince snapped coldly and glared at them with gritted teeth; he was so close to achieving his goal and he had no intention of letting the guards stand in his way. "We will not allow a weakling like you to steal the flame. You are a trespasser and you will not go any further" the guard said firmly; the word "weakling" set the Prince off. Only fourteen minutes remained and he had had enough; the stress built up within him broke free and he flew into rage. "FINE! THEN I'LL TAKE YOU ALL OUT FOR ALL I CARE. I WILL SILENCE ANYONE WHO STANDS IN MY WAY!" he screamed and charged towards them; the Prince struck four guards dead and the rest fought hard to defend their Sacred flame, but they were no match for the Princes fury. He stuck the last four down which left one remaining; the guard lifted his sword but the prince swung his and sent the guards sword flying out of his hands and down to the bottom of the temple. The Prince then pushed the guard aside and prepared to use his secret move that would separate his soul from his body, but the guard then grabbed his shoulder. "Let go of me now! I have to get that flame" the Prince shouted as he tried pushing the guard off him; he drew his sword as the guard continued wrestling him. "LET GO!" the Prince bellowed and then drove his sword right through the guard causing blood to spurt all over his hands and the floor; he pulled his sword out and kicked the body off the bridge. The Prince put his sword away and then separated himself from his body using the magic spin move his Mother had told him about back in the blue ruins. The Prince felt something fall from himself and looked down to the ground to see his own body laying on the floor at his transparent feet; he looked at himself and saw that he was hallow like a ghost. "It worked...it really worked. Now to get that flame" the Prince said proudly and then jumped over the end and pulled himself up onto the flames pedestal. He slowly reached his hand out and the blue flame then suddenly drew towards him like a magnet and engulfed him. The Prince cried out in slight pain as the flames power was absorbed into his soul. A few seconds later, the flame returned to normal and the shadow Prince now glowed bright blue like a live flaming torch. He felt filled with a force stronger than anything in his life and then jumped up in the air for joy. "Yes...YES. Now to get back to Persia once and for all" he cried happily and ran back over the gap and rejoined with his body; the Prince then got up to his feet and ran for the exit to find the next horse statue that would take him home. His quest would soon be over.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

At the end of the Temple, the Prince found the horse statue and climbed aboard it and the statue sprang to life. "Okay boy, back to Persia. Fly like the wind, bullseye!" the Prince cried and the horse whinnied and took off into the sky and flew through the clouds like a speeding bullet. Finally, after all this hard work, the Prince was finally going back home to Persia. Now with the power of the bird Goddess in his hands, he'd be able to finish Jaffar for good and save the woman he loved. After an hour of flying, the kingdom of Persia came into view; the Prince looked around and saw the Sultan's castle below in the center of the city. The Princess's tower stood tall and high in the middle of the castle. "Down on the top of the tower, boy. Land there" the Prince said to the horse and they both descended down and softly landed on the top of the tower and the Prince climbed off the horse and looked down to see the window open into the Princess's room. The Prince clenched his fists as he prepared to climb down and into the tower; this was it. "All right Jaffar. Let's see if your in there" the Prince guessed with determination as he climbed down onto the window ledge and entered the tower; he looked to his left and saw...the Princess sleeping in her bed. "Princess!" the Prince cried out fearfully and ran into her room and next to her bedside; he leaned down and pressed his ear on her chest. Her heart was still beating which meant she was still alive; the Prince looked at her beautiful face and features and shook his head fearfully. "Princess, wake up...please!" he gasped even though he knew it was useless; Jaffar's spell was still in place. As the Prince tried waking her, he heard a soft chuckle behind him. The Prince turned around to face the person; it was Jaffar. "So, you finally made it back, I see. You truly are a bold hero, Prince" Jaffar sneered with his arms folded; the Prince gasped and drew his sword. "What have you done to her, you murderous snake?!" he demanded angrily with his sword in hand; Jaffar merely smiled. "She's dying, that's what I've done" he said and then cackled; the Prince screamed angrily and charged towards Jaffar, who then stuck him backward. "Fool, you can't defeat me; I'm all powerful. You should know that by now" Jaffar taunted as the Prince got back on his feet. "I know more than you know, Jaffar. You see, I've met someone who tells me that you laid waste to an entire kingdom years ago far across the sea on a mountain top" the Prince replied with a glare; this got Jaffar's attention. "What...?" he gasped with widened eyes; the Prince smiled slyly. "Oh, don't get me wrong, Jaffar; I know you know. I visited my original hometown which now lays in ruins because of you" he explained with more of an "you know what I mean" tone of voice. Jaffar tried making excuses. "I don't know what your talking about" he snapped. "Oh, don't you _dare_ go playing that game with me! You killed my Mother, who by the way I met as a ghost, and then you murdered every innocent man, woman, and child who got in your way. So don't go telling me what you do and don't know" the Prince snapped, pointing his finger at Jaffar. Jaffar huffed and then stood firmly. He knew that the Prince knew too much as it was and that he was still alive and in his way, so he then decided to end it with a final warning. "Seems you don't know what your dealing with, Prince. You've gotten in my way for the last time and I will never let you have her" Jaffar replied coldly; the Prince raised his sword again. "So have you. My Mothers ghost told me the whole story about you and I promised to avenge her and all the innocent people you killed. I'm not leaving this place, ever, and I will see to it that you die" the Prince said firmly; Jaffar sneered with a sinister laugh. "No...It is you that will die, Prince. And I know just where to kill you" he said and then raised his hands and chanted a black magic spell as the Prince charged at him. Before the Prince could strike down Jaffar, everything around him went black and then a few seconds later, he found himself standing on what looked like an enormous chess board with chess pieces that had his own face and the faces of the Sultan, Jaffar, and the Princess on them. The Prince looked all around and saw only stone walls at the ends of the chess board, but at the end in front of him was a large structure made out of crystals. "Where are you, you snake!?" the Prince shouted out, looking around for Jaffar; no response. The Prince was desperate now as he put away his sword and headed for the crystal room; when he entered, he saw four Jaffar's on four crystal platforms and drew his sword. "I know one of you is the real Jaffar and I'm going to find you" the Prince said and struck the first Jaffar in front of him which vanished on contact. The same thing happened with the other three and the Prince then slammed his foot on the ground and pouted. "Where is he!?" he snapped in frustration and then saw an opening above him. The Prince climbed up and found himself in a large maze; and there at the top was the real Jaffar waiting for him. "So, there you are!" the Prince growled and started towards him; Jaffar sneered and blew him back with an attack spell. "Foolish Prince, you can't defeat me" Jaffar bellowed; the Prince then decided that it was time to use the power of the Sacred flame. "Oh, I can't...can I?" the Prince said with a sly chuckled and then spun around and then became Shadow Prince again, glowing with the power of the blue flame; Jaffar felt the aura emitting from the shadowy figure of the Prince and realized that it far surpassed even his own dark magic abilities. He knew he was no match for this power and began to step back slowly. "No...it...it can't be?!" he gasped and then wondered how the Prince got his hands on something so powerful; the glowing Shadow Prince smiled with a taunting grin. "It is; it's the power of the holy bird Goddess. Your through, Jaffar, so you best surrender" the Prince warned but Jaffar took off running in fear. The Prince chased after Jaffar who ran through the maze trying to escape the Prince who continued to follow him close behind. Jaffar threw dark balls of black magic at the Prince, hoping it would slow him down but the power of the bird Goddess was much too powerful for him to counter; his spell was blocked by the Sacred flame surrounding the Prince. The Prince shot orbs of blue fire at Jaffar which he dodged as he turned the corner and run to another part of the maze. The Prince kept casting fire at Jaffar, but missed every time as he ran through the maze. "Come on, hold still, you snake!" the Prince growled in frustration; his moment soon came. Jaffar came up to a dead end at a far corner of the maze and knew there was no escape as the Prince closed in on him. "No...please...DON'T" Jaffar pleaded; the Prince shook his head. "You have so got to die" he said and raised both his hands above his head and channeled the full power of the Sacred flame into one enormous ball of fire. With full determination and courage, he unleashed the full blast of Sacred fire at Jaffar and struck him head on; everything went black for a second and then the Prince found himself back in his body and in the Princess's tower. In front of him, Jaffar stood engulfed in Sacred fire and writhing. "GYAAAAAAAAAAHH!" he screeched as he was burned dead for good; his skeleton then crumbled to ash. The Prince raised his fists in the air triumphantly and cheered loudly; he had saved Persia again. "YES...YES. PRAISE THE LORD!" the Prince cried happily and then suddenly felt a strange gust blow past him. He looked down at himself and found himself no longer in beggers clothes, but back in his royal clothing as he had been wearing before he'd entered Persia's royal court hall. "My clothes are back to normal; destroying Jaffar must have lifted the spell. Wait, that must mean...!" the Prince gasped and then ran into the Princess's room to find her awakened.

* * *

**Epilogue**

_With the Evil Viziers death, the spell over the Princess was lifted. The Princess looked upon the Prince and saw the face of the man she loved. This time, the Prince took no chances. He ordered Jaffar's ashes scattered to the winds; the people rejoiced. And the Prince and Princess then lived once again in happiness and the rest of the Kingdom lived happily ever after. _

END


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